BBC culls more than one in ten senior managers in past year

The BBC has culled more than one in ten of its senior managers in the past year, the corporation’s director-general will announce today, as the broadcaster pledges to step up a cost-cutting drive.

The corporation’s annual report, published today, is expected to show that the broadcaster employs 356 senior managers, down from 401 last year, and nearly half of the 640 who were on its books in 2009.

The wage bill for senior staff is expected to have dropped by a similar proportion, from £52 million last year to £47 million.

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Lord Hall of Birkenhead, the director-general, is expected to announce that the BBC is on track to meet its target of saving £700 million a year by March 2017, as it has made £621 million of savings so far.

The broadcaster will also publish a response to the Dame Janet Smith report, outlining how it will ensure that a sex offender such as Jimmy Savile can never operate with impunity within the corporation again.

A BBC source said: “There are still tough financial challenges ahead, so the search for savings is not over, but the progress we've made will help us create a BBC fit for the digital age which continues to act as a creative beacon to the world."